EVO World 2018 is half a year away, but the game list has been announced to give people plenty of time to sign up and train for the games. This year, the lineup includes fan favorite Dragon Ball FighterZ but, perhaps most notably, lacks mainstay Marvel vs. Capcom in any form.

The Evolution Championship Series, now just simply known as EVO World, has been the premiere fighting game tournament for the world over since 1996 when it was known as Battle By the Bay. In the twenty years since, fans of fighters looked forward to the event as a perennial taste-maker for fighting games.

Today, the EVO leadership held a livestream to announce the 2018 lineup, which you can find here:

This is the first time since 2009 without a Marvel vs. Capcom game and the only time in the tournament’s entire history without a Capcom Vs. game. Considering how recently Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite released, it was nearly unfathomable that the game would miss EVO, which is an even more shocking development than the game not being a part of the Capcom Pro Tour.

The current lineup includes three Arc System Works games, which is the most of any individual developer at the event. There are three games that have some degree of Bandai Namco involvement, having developed Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, published Dragon Ball FighterZ, and developed and published Tekken 7. While BlazBlue has been at EVO, Persona 4 Arena, one of the games involved in Cross Tag Battle, was decided against the year it released.

EVO World 2018 will take place in Las Vegas August 3 – 5.

Our TakeI cannot imagine Capcom is happy with how Marvel vs. Capcom failed to take off, but this is as long and sharp a nail in the coffin as I can possibly imagine. A strong EVO showing could have renewed interest in the game, especially timed with a stronger season two, but neither of these things are in the cards now.